Same here.........
I'm on my third Gen1. Bought them, modded them, sold them, regretted it and gone back to them again. I've done the same thing, but in much greater quantities with BmW GS bikes. Probably had ten or twelve of those and still looking for another.
I actually offered the Fazer up again recently to another Forum member. Thankfully, he didn't take me up on the sale. Then I booked myself on a track day, used the Fazer and had a great day out. Pound for pound, even with all my mods and extras, the bike probably is worth £2.5k. There is nothing out there for similar money that would be as versatile and wouldn't need a fair sum spending on it, to make it as good as the Gen1.
I'm very lucky, I bought (well, kind of, PCP 😄) myself a BMW S1000XR last year. Now don't get me wrong, it is a fabulous bike, great power and handling. Essentially, for me, it brings together the best parts of the GS and the power of a modern sports bike. In theory, it is as close as I've ever come to that elusive perfect One bike that suits all needs.
But, like every other bike / thing in life, it isn't perfect. I could also fill the garage with a decent mix of other bikes for the £15k price tag. It does have all of the electronic rider aids that one could ever need.
I'm not against these, but in reality, as said before, they're great while the bike is under warranty. BUT......who, other than a BMW dealer, is going to be able to fix them when they go wrong out of warranty? I certainly won't be able to.
Do I REALLY need asc / traction, anti wheelie, power modes, ESA? I'm not convinced. I tend to stick with the same suspension settings, now the wife rarely comes out on the bike. When I ride in the wet, I'm careful with the throttle and try to be smooth. if I want to go fast, I open the throttle a bit quicker and wider.
Do I want to take my £15k XR on a track day? Absolutely. Can I afford to risk doing so though? Umm, no!
If you want to go and order a new bike without all of these riding aids, you either can't, or the dealer sells you horror stories over protracted delivery schedules and that "nobody will want to buy it off of you second hand, they'll all want the top spec bikes, it'll be worth nothing".
My two Penneth for what it's worth. I'm probably going to keep the Gen1 and go back to another GS. 👍